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Tuesday, October 8, 2013

What I did Instead of Homecoming

This weekend was my school's homecoming weekend. There's a parade, a football game, a dance, you name it. My school even had an entire spirit week, where each day you were told to come to school dressed for some theme completely unrelated to homecoming, but whatever. I'm always up for an excuse to look ridiculous! This is evidenced by my attempt at an being M&M for "you are what you eat" day. I didn't have a roll of white duct tape, but I just happened to have a gold one laying around. I'm so high-class. Only the really classy people use gold duct tape, right? Silver just won't do.

I also was too lazy to buy a new green shirt, so I figured I'd just tape the "M" over my Frog Day shirt from summer camp. And if that wasn't classy enough, we also took this picture in the school cafeteria, 3 feet from the bathroom.

Anyways, I didn't really bother putting in a ton of effort to prep for homecoming, because I wasn't even going to be there. I know what you're thinking. "This is the first-ever homecoming of your high school career, how can you not be going?" Well the rest of my family was going down to Emerald Isle for the annual North Carolina Seafood Festival, and who was I to pass up an entire day dedicated to eating my favorite foods? So while everyone else was trying on dresses and posing for pictures, I was packing my bags and heading for the beach, baby!

We arrived in Emerald Isle Friday night just in time to catch the sunset, but unfortunately I didn't manage to snap any pictures. The next morning we rolled into the cute little beach town of Morehead, North Carolina. The air was humid, the crowds were tight, and the music was loud, but luckily we were able to find refuge in the chef's tent, were we got to watch a demonstration on how to prepare my favorite food, ceviche! Since I prefer mild ceviche, I was a little disappointed with how spicy it was. But nevertheless, it was ceviche and ceviche is delicious.

After the demonstration we ventured back out into the crowds and attempted to visit the various booths. But it was getting close to lunchtime, and a hungry Katie is definitely not a happy Katie. While the rest of us thought long and hard about which of the hundreds of delicacies before us we wanted to eat, my sister ran straight for the funnel cakes, but quickly abandoned it for the rest of us to share, while she chowed down on none other than a fried Twinkie.

Battered, deep fried, dusted with powdered sugar and drizzled with chocolate syrup. Welcome to 'merica. I went for a slightly healthier crab cake sandwich, but was still feeling a little grumpy. That's when I spotted none other than my long-lost, one true love.

All hail to fried Oreos. Once again, they were fresh from the fryer and piping hot, just the way I like 'em. After I wolfed down these bad boys, I felt much better. The crowds instantly seemed thinner, the music seemed quieter, and my headache disappeared. I don't care what they say about fried stuff- these things were a life saver!

While my sister ate her fried chicken and french fries (you'll quickly learn she absolutely does not understand the meaning of "I'm full." How she stays so thin is a mystery to us all), we continued through the fair, wandering from booth to booth. Eventually we stumbled into the oldest bookstore in the state, and I instantly fell in love (though that may just have been from the air conditioning)

The infamous Dee Gee's bookstore; 80 years and counting. It just so happened that they carried a book I'd been looking for for ages, which wasn't available at Barnes and Noble or Amazon! I also came across a little book called "Lessons from a Turtle: the Little Book of Life." It was the cutest little book, and each page offered a little quote like this one:

How can you not accept life lessons from a turtle? But after we had gotten our fill of books we headed over to Parson's General Store across the train tracks, where we were greeted by its absolutely wonderful shopkeepers. If you ever have a chance, I'd definitely recommend stopping by! They also had great ice cream, and of course my sister (who clearly hadn't eaten enough that day), ordered a double-scoop. Luckily she wasn't able to finish, and I got to polish off the cup for her. Who thought Cappuccino and Moose Tracks were so delicious together?

Once none of us could handle the crowds any longer we headed home, but not before popping into a little beachside burger shack for a drink.

Please excuse my blurry fingers, but basically we took a seat along the side of the pier, and I got to spend a half our or so sipping iced tea, watching the ocean, and not miss homecoming weekend at all.

Seafood, fried Oreos, and the beach. I think we know who got the sweeter end of the deal here.

Once we were back at the cottage, the rest of my afternoon was spent lounging in bed, listening to music. Do any of you notice how whenever you're at the beach, there's always that peaceful, quiet part of the day in the late afternoon? Everyone is reading, dozing, or just taking a little time to relax for a while before the evening excitement starts up again. For us, that meant heading back out to a steakhouse for dinner. It was dingy and unimpressive, but we were all so full from earlier that no one wanted more than just a bite or so. After the bacon biscuit, funnel cake, fried oreos, crab cake sandwich, and ice cream I'd eaten during the day, I decided to go a little healthy and order some grilled scallops with vegetables. Okay, so I also had a slice of Texas toast, but we won't count that.